In November 1996, Paul Dean Jensen was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. That sentence was mandatory at the time, even though Jensen was only 14 when he committed premeditated murder. Now, almost 20 years later, he's getting a chance at someday walking free. Because of two U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Jensen's sentence is up for reconsideration at a hearing in Fort Pierre this week.

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Prison inmates who committed murder while juveniles have a chance to escape their mandatory sentence of life without possibility of parole. The U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision this week that Miller v. Alabama is retroactive, and so inmates convicted before that 2012 decision can now ask for a reduced sentence. Justices say states can offer parole eligibility to the affected inmates and avoid a new trial or sentence hearing. In South Dakota, only one inmate, Paul Dean Jensen, is affected.

A recent U.S. Supreme Court case has prompted Attorney General Marty Jackley to ask for a law allowing prosecutors to appeal certain sentences. Senate Bill 15 gives the state options when a judge re-sentences a juvenile convicted of murder and imposes a sentence lighter than life without parole.

A prison inmate serving life who was a juvenile when she committed murder in 1998 received a lighter sentence YESTERDAY/TUESDAY in Codington County. Jessi Owens, formerly of Watertown and now residing in the state women’s prison in Pierre, has been re-sentenced to a term of 40 years.

A state prison inmate convicted of second-degree murder while he was still a juvenile is appealing his case to the South Dakota Supreme Court. Oral arguments, first scheduled to be heard in December, have been continued to Jan. 13.

On the murder conviction, Braiden McCahren was sentenced about a year ago to 25 years, with 15 suspended. If he had been convicted of the same charge prior to 2012, he would have faced a mandatory life sentence without possibility of parole.

The South Dakota Supreme Court is meeting at the University of Sioux Falls this week. This morning the court is hearing oral arguments in three cases, among them a challenge to a lengthy juvenile sentence and a request from an attorney to have his arrest record cleared.

First up on the calendar is the case of Brandon Taliaferro (pronounced “Toliver”). He's a lawyer who served as a Brown County deputy state’s attorney until his boss dismissed him and asked the Division of Criminal Investigation to look at possible witness tampering, suborning perjury, and other charges.

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